Finding Love
by LittleFairyMaiden
Summary: Link realizes that he is in love with Tracy on the eve of the Miss Hairspray Pageant. Story takes place between the song with out love and the pageant.


Disclaimer: I don't own any thing sorry nope wish i did though oh well

A/N this is for my Beta and friend Hippogriff-Tamer for her birthday. H6p8gv and I came up with this so I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. And Happy Birthday HT!!!!

Summary..... What would have happened if Link had left Tracy's house after the song Without Love in the movie? This is my take on it so it is a little AU.

Link stared at Tracy's picture for what seemed like the longest time; before he decided that he was going to go look for the girl he just realized that he loved. He walked out of her room and past a flabbergasted Edna Turnblad and left the house search of his girl. Not only did he want to find her because he wanted to apologize for being such an idiot, but he wanted... no needed to tell her that he loved her and didn't care what anyone else thought about them as a couple.

* * *

Mean while.....

Tracy sat down on the love seat that Maybelle had offered her and finally broke down. She hated showing this weakness in front of her new friends but she just couldn't help it. She had been brave up until this point and she just couldn't hold back the tears she had been fighting the whole evening. She kept asking herself why. Why had she been so stupid and hit the officer over the head with her sign in the first place; had she not she wouldn't be in this particular predicament. She wanted to know why Link had refused to march with her. Had he really been so focused on his career that his friends meant nothing to him? And another thing why did she have to love him when it was obvious that he didn't return the sediment and never would. How could he see past her outward appearance and see the person she was inside. Why could he be seen with her with Seaweed but not in school? Was he embarrassed to be seen with her was that it? All these questions were running through her head and she had to breakdown and cry.

Penny and Seaweed went and sat next to her and Penny tried her best to comfort her best friend while the others were planning on how to get Tracy into the pageant the following day.

"Penny, why?" she sobbed into her friends shoulder.

Penny gently rubbed circles around her friends shoulders as she answered the unasked question, "Tra, you know he likes you for you, and as your mother said men have to think of their career first and their girl second; though I know Seaweed doesn't think that way. However, Link has been trying to make it for sometime you and I both know that give him time he will come around you'll see."

Tracy finally looked up at her friend knowing that what she had just said was true and Link had said just as much the day before. So, drying her eyes she put on a brave smile and asked, "So what's the plan?"

* * *

Link looked in every place he thought she would be but to no avail. "Where could she be?" he asked himself aloud, getting frustrated by his fruitless search. though he knew he needed to get home to get some rest for the pageant the following day he just couldn't do it. He needed to find Tracy first. Not only because he had promised her parents that he would find her and return her home but because he had to tell her that he loved her. That thought alone is what drove him to continue the search.

Then it hit him. The one place she may be at that most people wouldn't think of looking for her at. Maybelle's. He turned and began to run towards the record shop (though it was on the other side of town) and didn't stop til he got there.

* * *

Seaweed and Penny called the dress shop and then left to pick to pick up Tracy's dress for the pageant. While they were gone, Tracy and the others were going to set up everything for the following day. No one though was expecting the knock on Maybelle's back door. They all stopped what they were doing and some even went as far as to try and get Tracy to hide but she refused. If she was going to have to go to jail for assaulting an officer then so be it she would do it with her dignity in tack.

* * *

Link was out of breath when he reached Maybelle's Record Shop. He had to catch his breath before he straightened and politely knocked on the door, then waited for an answer. He heard shuffling inside and distinctly heard someone tell Tracy to hide and then he smiled when he heard her reply. He stood there waiting to be let in for what seemed like hours when in fact it was only a few minutes.

Inside Maybelle shushed everyone and calmly walked to the door an opened it, fully expecting to find and officer on the other side. What she found surprised her. Of everybody she knew she had not expected Link Larkin to show up unheeded outside her door though she had a good idea as to why he was there. Slyly she looked over in Tracy's direction to see her looking like she had seen a ghost.

Link upon seeing Tracy ran into the room and over to the plus sized girl throwing his arms around and and dancing her around the room all the while repeating "your safe."

Tracy was in shock, so much so that when he pulled her into his embrace she could do nothing but go along with him. When she finally got hold of herself she stared at him before launching into a tirade about him not being man enough to stand up with his friends in their time of need. She gave him a healthy set down which he took knowing he deserved her criticism. When she finished he bent down and kissed her before pulling back.

She stopped dead in her tracks the moment his lips touched hers. Link Larkin was actually kissing her! She, Tracy Turnblad, the schools laughing stock was being kissed by the schools most popular guy!!! When he pulled back it took everything in her not to pull him back and kiss him back.

Before too long long though, they were pulled apart by whistling an cheering and a few well meaning cat calls. Tracy turned scarlet while Link tried hard not to blush as well.

"Now that's what I'm talking about man," Seaweed said slapping Link on the back.

"Trace, I told you he'd come around!" Penny cried excitedly.

Tracy grinned and then found herself pulled back into Links arms in a gentle yet firm hug.

"Now how are we gonna get you into the pageant tomorrow?" Link asked Tracy quietly.

"Hey now we have everything figured out don't you worry about it none," one of the kids said knowingly. They were not about to tell Link their plan for fear of him giving it away to the wrong person. It wasn't that they didn't trust him; they just wanted to keep Tracy as safe as possible.

Link understood their hesitation and somehow knew the reason behind it so he didn't push the issue though he did want to know what the plan was. HOwever he was just happy to have Tracy in his arms finally, especially since he now understood the true meaning of the word love. It wasn't some feeling it was deeper than any emotion he could ever have for her it was something he just couldn't explain and yet he knew that he loved her and always would. Oblivious to everyone one around him he again bent and kissed her only this time he allowed a deeper contact than that of before.

What seemed like minutes later he pulled back and whispered into his girls' ear, "I love you, Trace."

Link knew that he had found love finally and that she would now and forevermore be by his side and he by hers.


End file.
